Dreambody: The Body's Role In Revealing the Self

by Arnold Mindell, Marie-Louise von Franz

Introducing the concept of meaningful connections between nighttime dreams, myths, and body experiences, this work traces attitudes toward the body in Eastern and Western thought and illustrates the connections between body experiences and universal patterns evident in philosophical systems, fairy tales, and myths. This newly revised second edition contains a new foreward, which locates the original dreambody concept within later developments in process work, including work with relationships, addictions, coma, movement, and worldwork, and theoretical links to modern physics.

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction, Health, Spirituality

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1982

Reviews

[Heidi Wiechert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dreambody is a rather complicated book that attempts to synthesize various forms of holistic and religious methods of dealing with the consciousness of the body into methods that western psychologists can utilize to help patients heal. I ran across a lot of tidbits in here that I've never read anywhere else and, because of that (among other reasons), Dreambody is definitely worth the time it takes to digest its, sometime very dry, contents.

Here's an example of the author comparing different modes of consciousness work: "When the dreambody manifests itself as an energetic charge shooting through the spine, we could call it by its ancient name, the Kundalini. When it is experienced as the essence of life, it is Mercury. When one visualizes its energy as streaming through the body, it is the twelve meridian system. If one sees it and acts on this vision we have gestalt identification. If one feels it as a cramp in breathing, it is called character armour. If one senses it and changes, we might speak of biofeedback. If it appears as a force pushing one in the stomach to do a new task, it is personal power. Obviously, we need a unified approach to the body." pg 8 Yeah, we do. It seems like practitioners focus on one or another of these methods of body consciousness rather than approaching and accepting them all as paths to the same destination- self knowledge.

I had never heard of the benefits of working on your personal consciousness bleeding over onto those closest to you, but it makes sense... getting your own house in order helps your family and coworkers who deal with you tangentially: "There is practical significance in knowing that body synchronicities (between persons who are emotionally connected) exist... getting oneself in order, making oneself more comfortable, letting out certain pressures or living certain feelings may have a relieving effect on others, whether or not one's problems are worked out in public. pg 35

On awakening the sleeping giant, the author has this to say: "...our total real personalities, our dreambodies, apparently consciously decide to enter life and choose great difficulties which bottle them up. We decide to string ourselves up on the tree of life and to cling to a real body in order to rejuvenate ourselves. But forgetting why it chose to be reborn, the Self tries to leave its bottle by simply breaking free of worldly commitments, searching for miraculous relaxants, or even suicide. Dear purusha, diamond body, Mercury, atman, Self- realize that you yourself are responsible for this voluntary torture called life. Accept the illnesses that you yourself are responsible for and realize that the meaning of your civilizing bottle is that only it can awaken you to your own real nature.... See life as a disease you have chosen and then you will remember who you are." pg 67

On contacting the inner guru: "Thus if we patiently study dreams, in time they themselves produce tutelary figures who instruct about the nature of life and even about dream work itself. Likewise, by patiently studying and amplifying body signals, one meets an inner-body guru, or energy, which gives instruction about how to move the body." pg 78-79 Go within and bring it out.

On the western mindset about fantasies and intuitions: "It is difficult for us to believe that the intuitions, fantasies and ideas popping into consciousness are important. Even individuals trained in psychology have trouble taking fantasies seriously. Yet experience indicates that practically every fantasy that appears spontaneously in consciousness is dreamlike and oracular, a signal from the collective unconscious describing its condition. A spontaneous fantasy is never a strictly personal phenomenon but is always partially dreamed up by the situation one is in." pg 100

One of the better descriptions of archetypes that I've come across: "The archetype is a field structure, a pattern that manifests itself in terms of dream images and body states. More simply stated, the archetype is a compelling tendency toward a specific experience. If the archetype of field pattern is not made conscious, then it becomes an enemy of the individual clinging to the chronological path. For someone in contact with the unconscious, the archetypes are body impulses and their wisdom. Otherwise, the archetypes become the root images of complexes and diseases." pg 168

No blanket healing guarantees in this type of consciousness exploration: "However, I do not want to stress the physiological changes accompanying dreambody work for several reasons. For one, I do not want to present amplification as a cure-all, even though healing is often a by-product of dreambody work. Healing is a specific goal, and amplification is chiefly a means for allowing the body to express itself. Also, I have no way of knowing whether or not physiological improvement is brought about by dreambody work and could not have been attained, for example, by simply meditating on the symptoms." pg 183 I think this is mainly why Western medicine is having trouble integrating these techniques into scientific institutions. They're so nebulous and there's no way to run consistent clinical trials of the methods- at least, that we've discovered so far.

Finally, an excellent description of the dreambody itself: "The dreambody has been variously (described). When it is observed in meditation it appears in terms of the subtle body, i.e., inner designs of the nervous system. When looked at through visions occurring near death or in out-of-body experiences, the dreambody appears as a gaseous substance, a ghost, astral body or spirit. If we study the dreambody in fairy tales, then, symptoms appear in terms of terrifying figures such as Death, Mercury, Godfathers and snakes. If we examine the dreambody in dreams then it appears as the figures and the processes creating action. In medicine the dreambody manifests itself in terms of physical symptoms; in body work it appears as the dreamlike process which tries to express itself through uncontrolled body motions." pg 185

Mindell has includes many, many interpretations of symbols in stories, myths, dreams, and legends and ties these to the body and mind, but they are much to lengthy to relate in any understandable way here. This really is a fascinating book- if any of what I've talked about in this review interests you, I'd highly recommend picking it up. Also, if you enjoyed Dreambody, you may want to explore The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell. He touches on many of the subjects in this book, but in a storytelling format that I found more approachable than Mindell's.

[R.K. Cowles · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 1/4 stars

[str4wberries · Rating 4 out of 5]

it means a awful lot when the only thing i can think to say about a book is that it was interesting. very power of myth. left me saying "i guess?"

[Adam Kościuk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good introduction to Dreambody concept ;)
Interesting anthropological and mythological context.
Good examples of psychological work.